OKLAHOMA CITY – During the recent lapse in government funding, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Oklahoma continued prosecuting fraudsters and other financial criminals, including a former Carnegie banker.
The following three separate and unrelated cases involving bank fraud, forged checks, and mail theft represent a portion of the sentencings finalized during the 43-day shutdown.
• Aaron D. Johnson, 43, of Oklahoma City, was sentenced Oct. 3 to six months in federal prison, followed by 12 months of home confinement and 24 months of supervised release, for committing bank fraud. He also was ordered to pay $102,069 in restitution and a $100,000 fine.
Johnson became the president and chief executive officer of Farmers Bank of Carnegie in 2016, at the age of 34. He is the son of a former chairman of the bank’s board of directors and grandson of the bank’s founder.
In his role, Johnson had access to the bank’s operating account credit card.
A forensic audit performed by the accounting firm BKD determined that Johnson was responsible for $398,389 in personal charges on the AmEx card. He reimbursed the bank for $371,000, leaving a balance due of $27,389 plus $18,171 in interest owed on the personal charges.
According to information filed by investigators, between September 2017 and late July 2018 Johnson used the bank’s American Express card to pay his personal expenses, causing an overdraft of approximately $200,000 in the bank’s operating account.
On July 30, 2018, Johnson approved a modification to a loan, without approval from the bank’s board of directors, that renewed the loan in an increased amount. The federal felony charge further alleged that Johnson caused a $200,000 advance on the loan, wired the money into an account he controlled, and used the money to repay the overdraft that he caused.
According to a sentencing memorandum, the stolen $200,000 has been “repaid in full.”
Johnson pleaded guilty Feb. 4, 2025, and admitted he knowingly executed a scheme to obtain money from the bank by means of false or fraudulent pretenses.
• Deonte Montrell Hornsby, 28, of Oklahoma City, was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison for conspiracy to commit bank fraud and possession of stolen mail.
A U.S. postal inspector reported that armed robberies of U.S. Postal Service letter carriers occurred in Oklahoma City on Nov. 14 and Dec. 18, 2024. In each robbery a specific USPS key – often referred to as “arrow keys” because of the common engraving of an arrow on one side of the key – was taken. Arrow keys are universal-type devices that open U.S. mail receptacles within specific geographic boundaries.
According to public records, between December 2024 and April 2025, Hornsby used a stolen U.S. Postal Service key to steal mail from mail deposit boxes in Oklahoma City.
Hornsby then fraudulently altered checks found in the stolen mail and deposited the altered checks into bank accounts owned by co-conspirators to obtain cash from banks. In all, Hornsby and the co-conspirators were responsible for $72,728 in losses.
On April 18, 2025, the U.S. Postal Service placed a covert GPS transmitter inside a parcel and placed the parcel into a collection box located at the Southeast Station in Oklahoma City, which had been “repeatedly targeted for mail theft,” the postal inspector testified.
A federal search warrant was executed April 21 at Hornsby’s residence, and investigators found the parcel with the GPS transmitter, numerous stolen checks and “rifled U.S. mail,” and a handgun.
Hornsby pleaded guilty June 30 and was sentenced Nov. 3.
• Rahbin Joseph Ward, 27, of Oklahoma City, was sentenced to 12 months and one day in federal prison, and was ordered to pay $53,960 in restitution, for conspiracy to commit bank fraud.
Evidence gathered during investigation of the crime showed that from May through June 2023, Ward and other co-conspirators obtained checks from stolen mail, fraudulently altered the information on the checks, and deposited the forged instruments into Ward’s personal bank account.
The conspirators withdrew cash from Ward’s bank account that was funded by the forged checks, then used his debit card to make purchases at stores and businesses and made cash transfers from his bank account to other individuals.
On May 3, 2023, the conspirators deposited an altered check for $53,960 into Ward’s bank account, and on June 13, 2023, they deposited a forged check for $166,072 into his account Ward was indicted by the grand jury on April 16, pleaded guilty July 25, and was sentenced on Oct. 24.
All three cases were investigated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of the Inspector General and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.